Social workers considered sending boy to the Congo for exorcism

Council chiefs have been criticised for considering sending a boy in their care for exorcism. The boy, whose family were from Africa, had been taken into care by Islington council in north London. His mother, who no longer had responsibility for her child, asked for him to be sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo for "deliverance". The boy's family claimed this was necessary because they believed he was possessed by "kindoki" or evil spirits. Islington social services officials then paid more than £4,000 for an expert to travel to Africa to investigate. The expert, Richard Hoskins, an academic specialising in African religions, was alarmed by what he saw on the visit, and advised the council that the boy should not be exorcised.

After receiving his report, the council - then under Liberal Democrat control - abandoned the plan. Dr Hoskins said that prior to his trip, some Islington council officials had been "mindful to agree to the request" for exorcism. Speaking at a conference yesterday, he said the case demonstrated how officials in Britain were reluctant to challenge the mistreatement of children when it was committed under the guise of "religious or cultural practices". "This problem is about the underlying failure to tackle abuse when it is masked behind multiculturalism," he said. "We fear to trend where sensibilities might apparently be affected." During his visit to Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC, in 2005, Dr Hoskins met the grandparents of the boy at the centre of the case. They told him that the child had been "infected by sorcery" while in the UK and that he "would destroy them all".



The deliverance that the boy was to undergo would have involved starving him of food and fluids for three days. At the end of the fasting period, he would be surrounded by the deliverance team who would pray over him and command the evil spirit to be cast out of the child. When deliverance takes place, the child vomits up the "sorcery bread" that has been infecting him. Dr Hoskins also met the pastor from the Pentecostal church attended by the grandparents, who warned that if the evil spirits were not dealt with, they would cause "strife, illness, divorce, hardship, poverty and death". The pastor claimed that the boy would have sorcery tools to perform magic with, such as mirrors, brushes, sticks and string, and warned that these would have to be confiscated.

Dr Hoskins asked whether the boy would be beaten, and was assured that this was not part of the normal deliverance process. However, when he was presented with a boy who had recently undergone the ordeal, he found the child "scared and traumatised". Islington paid £4,372 to fund the trip, including Dr Hoskins's fee of £3,080, half of the cost of the £710 flight, taxi fares, accommodation and refreshments bills. In his report to the council, the academic wrote: "Whilst I found the family and the church to be very friendly, I cannot recommend that the child be allowed to go through a deliverance service such as that envisaged. From my research I think this might be deeply disturbing and traumatising for him." Islington council acknowledged it had paid Dr Hoskins to travel to Africa, but claimed it was on the instruction of a judge. "It is a normal process in care proceedings to assess the extended family when a child has been removed from parental care," a spokesman said.